What's in a Name
by Frisco
Summary: Episode tag for Michael.  What happened to Michael after the Wraith found him?  Written for the Michael challenge on the sheps atlantis LJ community.


This is undoubtedly the worst month of my life. I simply cannot imagine how things could get any worse. I have been captured, tortured, injected with drugs, had my memory erased, lied to, and almost killed. To top it off, my captors thought they were doing me a _favor_, detestable creatures that they are. They have changed me, _tainted_ me. I can see it in her eyes and hear it in her thoughts as she decides whether to let me live or die. The bullet in my back is consuming my life, and I must feed in order to live, but I am powerless in her presence, unable to move.

My life from before is gone, stolen from me by _humans_. I will never return to my hive, my queen, my family. I am here now, hers to do with as she pleases. Her features harden as she makes the decision, and I close my eyes and wait for the blow to my chest that will drain the rest of my life from me. With my waning strength, I whisper the promise of Atlantis to her mind, and the blow does not come. Her mind slams into mine with its full force, and I lie helplessly as she ravages my mind in search of the information I possess. And the memories.

OoOoOoOoO

Five days ago I awoke in a strange place with no memory of who I was or where I came from. The people there pretended to be my friends, expressed concern, deceived me about my past and my very existence. I believed every lie they told.

I told their mind doctor that I wanted to be like everyone else. I meant it, to my everlasting shame. I wanted to be just like them, and I knew somehow I was different. I could see it in their faces and hear it in their voices. I thought the Wraith had performed some kind of experiment on me. Oh, the irony of the truth.

They gave me drugs, telling me they were to save my life when in reality they were to steal it. They sent a woman to befriend me, and it worked. I trusted her, told her my fears and my struggles. She treated me as she treated the others, with kindness and consideration. They told me I was a soldier, and deep inside I understood what that meant, and it felt right. The other soldiers, even the big dangerous one that hated me so, responded with respect to the military leader, and I did as well.

They could explain away the nightmares, but they could not explain away the powerful feeling growing inside – a hunger that could not be sated, a desire that had no name. The urge was strongest around the soldiers especially the leader and his enforcer. It was equally as intense around the woman, but something was different. I could not define it at first; it was a gossamer thread floating just outside my reach, but it coalesced a bit more each time we met.

I could sense their feelings – hatred from the big man, distrust from his commander, a friendly wariness from the female, compassion from the doctor, fear from the scientist. But my own emotions frightened me the most – the hunger, the rage. I had no context in which to put them. I floundered, seeking answers from the mind doctor and from my supposed friends. They had no response because to answer would be to confess their crimes.

I stumbled on the truth by accident. Once I knew who I was, my memories began to return rapidly, and the hunger and rage grew. They tried to convince me that they had done this to help me, to make my life better. If they could only understand how ridiculous that notion was.

I could not stay in that place, with those vermin. I reached out with my mind, but either the drugs were suppressing my telepathy or my people were too far away. I tried to escape but failed and killed one of their people in the process. I did not want to kill him, but once I had, the smell of his blood almost overwhelmed me. I hesitated a moment too long and was captured. Again.

They locked me in a cell while they decided what to do with me. The soldier in me reacted to the military leader when he entered before my brain realized it. I leapt to attention and would have saluted if he had not stunned me first. Yet another humiliation.

When I awoke on the new planet, they had left the woman with me to my great fortune. I had finally regained enough of myself to comprehend what I was sensing. When she asked how I was feeling, I told her I was hungry, but she did not understand my meaning. She left to get human food while I struggled to free myself from the restraints only to notice that I was incapable of feeding at the moment. The strength of these people was unsurpassed, and while I would have preferred to feed on the big man, I knew I would actually be able to control her. I could sense the vulnerability to me within her, and I manipulated it to my advantage when she returned.

I dragged her to the planet's portal and stared at the symbols, dialing as an address formed in my mind. I pulled her through as the commander and enforcer gave chase. I smiled as we stepped through and the connection severed without them following. However, an incredible pain shot through me causing my muscles to spasm and my abdomen to cramp. I breathed through it until the agony passed. Suddenly my mind was filled with the song of my kind. How I had missed it! The tendril pulled me forward, and, grabbing her arm, I stumbled toward it.

The throbbing pangs and cramps continued as we neared our destination. I told her she could rest, but in reality I needed the relief. My body was returning to its proper form, and it was just as painful as the original transformation had been.

She drifted off to sleep, and I stood staring at her. She had offered me the chance to return, to be one of them again, and I had been tempted for a moment. I wondered how I was to function now as a Wraith. It had always been so easy before to think of them as food, nothing more. But now…. I had seen life through human eyes. They told me we shared a common ancestry. Could I once again feed on them as I had for past millennia?

Another wave of pain hit, and I moved back into the woods to wait it out. She began stirring and rose even as I discovered my feeding hand had mutated back to normal. My people were coming, and I could sense her fear although she tried to hide it. She challenged me, and I looked into her eyes, fighting the internal conflict that has been raging since we stepped onto this world.

Of them all, her betrayal was the greatest. She had called herself my friend. My hand reached for her of its own accord, the hunger in me so intense I could not breathe. My blood roared in my ears, and I sought a reason to not destroy her. My hand stilled over her heart until the look on her face reminded me of what they had done. I pulled my hand back to strike when the bullet hit, and I dropped to the ground, miserable in my failure. I heard more weapons fire and sensed the commander and enforcer escape with the woman even as my people reached me.

I was taken to the hive and examined. All who saw me wore the same look of revulsion. Even my hair mocked me and marked me as unclean. The others did nothing but stare as they waited for their queen to arrive and give instruction. Between the hunger and the wound, my life was slipping away. And then she arrived.

OoOoOoOoO

Her eyes widen at the knowledge that Atlantis still exists, and she instructs a guard to bring food. She begins to form a plan, but I can only hear an echo of a whisper resound in her mind. But I know it involves me and the information I have provided.

Food is brought in, struggling, screaming, begging for mercy, and for a moment I hear the woman's voice in my head describing the evilness of the Wraith. Normally I would feed while it is in the cocoon, but I am too weak to stand much less walk to the storage area. Dinner is placed on a rolling table and put within my reach. I close my ears to its fear and pain as I reach for its chest, clenching my eyes shut against the image of the woman's smile while I feed. As my strength returns and my wound heals, I suddenly realize what I am doing – seeing it as my equal. I am not human. I am Wraith! My eyes fly open, and I jump from my table to straddle the creature next to me, pressing my hand down so viciously that I can feel its bones crack even as its life drains from it.

My reprieve has been granted, and I will live to seek retribution for what the humans have done to me. They even named me like they would a pet. They called me Michael.

The End.


End file.
